Photo taken on Aug. 11, 2020 shows exhibits at an exhibition to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the victory in the World Anti-Fascist War at the Imperial War Museum in London, Britain. (Xinhua)

From both the deadliest hot war in human history and the ideological confrontation that used to split the world into two rival camps, the human race needs to learn one momentous revelation: peace should be cherished while aggression must be rejected.

by Xinhua writer Guo Yage

BEIJING, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- This year marks the 75th anniversary of the victory of the World Anti-Fascist War, while the Cold War has been over for almost three decades.

From both the deadliest hot war in human history and the ideological confrontation that used to split the world into two rival camps, the human race needs to learn one momentous revelation: peace should be cherished while aggression must be rejected.

Yet it seems that, instead of heeding the tragic lessons of history, some politicians in Washington, by abusing U.S. superpower status, have now become the archenemy of world peace and stability.

Photo taken on July 7, 2020 shows the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., the United States. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

Those Washington zero-summers have been recklessly instigating hatred and confrontation worldwide. Over the years, they have been manufacturing and selling all kinds of so-called "China threat" theories and have stepped up such crafty deeds during the still-raging COVID-19 pandemic.

To divert public rage over the White House's fouled-up pandemic response for their own political interests, those politicians have raced to use every possible chance to peddle a battery of conspiracy theories, fomenting anti-China hysteria and xenophobic sentiments within and beyond the United States.

To contain China's development, those China hawks in Washington, notably U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, have been busy stifling Chinese technology enterprises. They have also been travelling around the world and coercing countries into choosing sides between Washington and Beijing, seeking to stir up ideological strife and raise the specter of the Cold War.

Those U.S. politicians are also unbridled practitioners of bullyism on the world stage, constantly sowing chaos and instability in almost all corners of the globe.

People hold anti-war banners and wave Iraqi flags during a protest in Baghdad, Iraq, on May 24, 2019. Hundreds of supporters of Iraqi prominent Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr rallied in the capital Baghdad and other Iraqi cities, rejecting war between Iran and the United States. (Xinhua/Khalil Dawood)

Since the start of the new millennium, the United States has invaded Afghanistan and Iraq under the pretext of combating terrorism, and militarily intervened in Libya and Syria on grounds of humanitarianism, resulting in one hellish humanitarian disaster after another.

After the current U.S. administration took power, it has been growingly obsessed with its "maximum pressure" tactic against Tehran, Pyongyang and Caracas, risking the danger of kicking those regions into the abyss of bloody wars. In recent months, it has dramatically raised tensions in the South China Sea by sending warships and fighter jets to the area more frequently.

Those U.S. politicians have also been tearing down the existing world order the United States helped build in the post-war era, violating international law and widely recognized norms in international relations, and eroding the foundation for multilateral cooperation.

In a world where global challenges need multilateral solutions, they tend to turn their back against the international community.

Under their watch, the United States has been more willing to brandish the big stick of tariff against almost all of its major trading partners, and has cast aside its responsibility as a major country for arms control and nuclear non-proliferation by quitting the Iran nuclear deal and the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty.

The Capitol and a stop sign are seen in Washington D.C., the United States, on Feb. 13, 2020. (Xinhua/Liu Jie)

At a time when global solidarity is much needed to win the fight against the deadly pathogen, the United States has been breeding protectionism. It has blocked or diverted other countries' medical supply orders, hyped up vaccine nationalism, and decided to quit the World Health Organization, only sowing seeds of distrust and division in the international community and making the arduous global battle much tougher.

Involving 61 countries with 1.7 billion people, the Second World War left more than 100 million dead or wounded, while during the Cold War decades, the race for global supremacy cloaked the whole world in the shadow of ideological divide, arms race and geopolitical tensions. Those years of chaos and carnage should never be allowed to be repeated in any form.

"We are not each other's enemies. Rather, our common enemy is a tireless virus that threatens our health, security and very way of life," the United Nations vowed ahead of this year's International Day of Peace themed "Shaping Peace Together."

Washington should work hard to restrain its ballooning greed for global domination, live up to its global responsibility as the world's sole superpower, and help promote a perpetual peace. That is the only way it can best serve the common interests of all mankind. ■